Father's Daughter
by Icedragonmo3
Summary: What happens when in the final fight with Voldemort, Harry is flung 15 years into the future, and is saved by the daughter he didn't know he had? Could you at 18 deal with a 14 yr old daughter? Chapter 8 and AN up!
1. In the Beginning

As cliched as it sounds, it WAS a dark and stormy night.  
  
A certain raven-haired boy with a unique scar was standing in the wildly blowing snow, facing off against an unspeakable evil. A once-man who was once called Tom, this being was idly waiting for his death eaters to arrive before storming Hogwarts in full force. You see, only two people alive have the power to apparate onto the Hogwarts grounds. One, was Albus Dumbledore. The other was Lord Voldemort.  
  
Voldemort had apparated in advance, and was waiting for his squad to make their way from the neighboring wizarding village of hogsmeade, when he was called out from the Dark Forest by a certain eighteen year old thorn in his side.  
  
"Riddle."  
  
"Who DARES call me by that.. that... filthy MUGGLE NAME!" he bellowed to the cloaked boy.  
  
Harry only chuckled. "Who do you think? I'll give you a hint... It's not Dumbledore."  
  
Voldemort's eyes narrowed in a cold rage that would have given half the wizarding world a heart-attack.  
  
"Potter."  
  
Voldemort raised his wand to cast a spell, but Harry was far quicker. Before Voldemort could even begin the second syllable of the death curse, Harry had already cast a spell.  
  
"A-va-"  
  
"EXPELLIARMUS!"  
  
Voldemort's wand flew from his hand, and directly into Harry's open hand. This was, of course, the only strategy that Harry could come up with that had any chance of his survival. Any other plan he came up with, other than disarming Voldemort, would probably ultimately end up in Harry's Death. He had to at least cripple the Dark Lord at the very beginning of the fight. It just had to be done.  
  
He had also predetermined the battle field, just outside the late Hagrid's hut on the edge of the dark forest.  
  
There was a reason for this.  
  
:FLASHBACK:  
  
(Sixth Year, sometime in November)  
  
"Hermione."  
  
"I'm sorry Harry, *sniff* I still haven't gotten over Hagrid's death." Hagrid, the Hogwarts Gamekeeper, had died two months earlier trying to fend off a Death Eater raid just outside of York. "I'll try to keep my emotions under control."  
  
"No, Hermione. It's not that, it's not that at all. You don't need to try to cage your feelings, at least around me. I..I've been doing some thinking."  
  
"Yeah?" Hermione looked at him with a curious expression plastered on her face, trying her best to hide the longing in her eyes she normally portrayed everytime she looked at him when he wasn't aware. Still, even now, she chanted her own personal mantra in her head. 'He's your friend, he's your friend, he's your friend, Hermione, he's your friend, you can't be in love with him, he's your friend, etc.'  
  
"Hagrid's death has reminded me that life is too short. I need to tell you how I feel.." He had to tell her how much he loved her. The pain was entirely too much to take now. He always had reasons not to tell her, such as 'She is my best friend", or "Anyone who gets too close to me becomes a target." Now, however, as he watched yet another loved one slip away, it dawned on him that life is entirely too short, and that as it is, he has been on borrowed time for sixteen years. Why should he deny his chance at happiness?  
  
"Yes?" Hermione inched a little closer, tears in her eyes, hoping at what he was to say but fearing it would be something else entirely.  
  
Harry looked back at Hermione, no longer trying to mask his feelings. "I.. I love you, Mione." He reached up and tucked a stray hair behind her ear with a somehow sad, yet happy at the same time smile. "I've known that I've loved you since I almost lost you to that mountain troll. I know that no one has told you, but when you were petrified, I spent every night I could with you, crying myself to sleep beside you in the bed." He looked away with his eyes clenched shut, tears still somehow forcing their way through. "The only people who knew I was there were Ron, whom I begged and pleaded with to keep it a secret, Madame Pomfrey, whom took even more persuasion than Ron, and Professor Dumbledore, who seemed to be the only one who knew that the term 'visiting hours' didn't apply to the way I felt, no, I FEEL, about you."  
  
He ended his speech, only Merlin knew how many times he had practiced it in his own mind, but still couldn't look at her. He was too afraid of losing everything by confessing how he feels, how it seems he has always felt.  
  
Hermione was stunned. No one, (excluding Ron), not even HER, his best friend, had ever seen Harry cry. He always seemed somehow.more than human. He seemed to be able to distance himself from sadness, even in the face of everything he had to endure his entire life. This was her proof. This was what she had been waiting for. One thing, just ONE thing had been able to crack his superhuman persona. It was her. More specifically, his feelings for her. He was crying at the mere memory of her being in danger. 'He loves me.' she thought to herself.  
  
All the years of hiding, all the years of fearing losing him, had been in vain. He had always felt the same way about her, and she knew now. She knew that no more time must be spent in vain.  
  
"Oh Harry!" she shouted at him, her tears of sadness quickly becoming tears of joy. " I love you too!" She flung herself on him, toppling them both to the ground, where she proceeded to give him a kiss for every tear he had ever shed over her.  
  
Harry was never more ecstatic, and knew that if he ever needed a comforting thought in the face of extreme danger, he would think of her, this place, and the moment his life became complete.  
  
:END FLASHBACK:  
  
"Very well Potter, you have my wand. Now, would you mind telling me just how, with your bumbling and childish mind, managed to find me before I was ready to strike?"  
  
:FLASHBACK:  
  
(Yesterday Night, about 3:00 AM)  
  
"aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!" Harry woke up in bed screaming for the third night in a row. Breathing quite heavily, he was unable to hear anything over his own panting. As such, he was completely unaware as Hermione ran across the short hall connecting the Head boy and Head girl private dorm rooms.  
  
Harry and Hermione had agreed to shut and lock the door that connnected their private hallway to the rest of the castle, but to leave their respective doors open in case the other needed anything during the night. Complete trust and caring was the most evident aspect of their relationship.  
  
"Harry? Harry? What IS it? This is the third night in a row! Why won't you tell me what's wrong?"  
  
For three nights in a row, Harry had woken up to the same dream. No, not a dream, he knew. It was real. It was a vision. Had he not taken Divination, he would probably have just ignored it as a reoccuring nightmare. He, however, knew better now.  
  
Harry looked at her through his dilated pupils. She had a right to know. He was, after all, planning on marrying her after graduation, and there is almost a certainty that he will be coming back to the Head boy dormitory tomorroy  
  
"Hermione." He whispered, but the whisper carried a heavy undertone of concern.  
  
She was taken aback. This tone was deadly serious. He now had her full, undivided attention.  
  
"Please shut the door," he gently asked. If he knew her half as well as he thought he does, she is going to be screaming at one point in the conversation or another.  
  
She did as she was asked, then, hesitantly walked back to where Harry was now sitting on the bed, fearing that whatever it was, was terribly bad.  
  
He looked up at her with weary, weary eyes. "Can you keep a secret?"  
  
'No 18 year old boy, no, make that man, should have eyes that old so young' she thought to herself as she studied his face. Few people could give her soulmate comfort, and by Merlin, she was going to at least try.  
  
"Y-Yes, I can and I will. Just please tell me what is going on."  
  
"Voldemort is going to attack the school tomorrow. He has two targets, one being Professor Dumbledore. I'll give you three guesses who the other is."  
  
Hermoine let out a sharp gasp, but quickly recovered. "WHY WOULD YOU WANT TO KEEP THIS A SECRET!" she screamed at him.  
  
This is exactly why Harry had Hermione shut the door. Their rooms became soundproof when sealed, so they could discuss Head boy/Head girl problems in private, they had supposed. Or maybe it was just a privilege of the position. Regardless of the reason for it, Harry was thankful for the charm at the moment.  
  
"Hermoine, calm down. I have a plan, and it involves you."  
  
"This had BETTER be good."  
  
'Great,' Harry thought to himself, 'she is even more agitated than I thought she would get.'  
  
"Look, Voldemort can apparate onto the school grounds." Hermione tried to interrupt, but Harry had anticipated this and cut her off. He could already imagine her retort. *No, Harry, no one can apparate onto or from the school grounds. Anyone who had read 'Hogwarts, A History' would know that.* "No, Hermione. Voldemort CAN. I'm pretty sure Dumbledore can too. Now, he is going to apparate here and hide in the dark forest awaiting his Death eaters to travel from Hogsmeade. I am going to go and try to stop him." Here Hermione tried to interrupt again, and again she was cut off.  
  
"No, Hermione, don't try and stop me. I've been having visions. If anyone else comes with, even Dumbledore himself, large amounts of people will die. This is the only chance to save everyone's lives. Now, I am going to try and kill him. Whether or not I succeed, there will still be over a hundred Deatheaters on their way here. I need you to tell Dumbledore everything exactly one hour after I leave. The Deatheaters will need to be dealt with. Do you understand?"  
  
Hermione took a deep breath and sighed. She understood that this was something Harry had to do. It was an integral part of him to put everyone else over himself. And she loved him even more for it. She also knew, however, that the chances of Harry surviving this fight were slim to none, and slim just left town. "Alright, I agree. But I want to give you something before tomorrow."  
  
Hermoine stood slowly, removed her nightgown from her body, and let it fall down to the floor, away from her nude frame. Harry was speechless as he gazed at her in open admiration and love.  
  
Hermione, you see, had been saving herself for marriage. Harry had whole- heartedly agreed, for one of the traits he admired most of her was of her ability to figure things out for herself, and then stand by her convictions. If her innocence was to be tainted, he was not going to be the cause of it.  
  
Now, she felt, the man she was saving herself for may not be returning to her tomorrow evening.  
  
She crawled into bed with him and pulled his still shocked face towards her own. Eyes only half open, she kissed her love tenderly yet passionately, while pulling the worn oversized T-shirt he always slept in up to caress his chest. Harry soon got the hint, and helped her undress him, but never let his loving gaze fall from her chocolate eyes.  
  
Quite some time later, they both fell into a contented sleep, having pushed tomorrow's events to the back of their minds.  
  
:END FLASHBACK:  
  
"A bird told me." Harry replied, smirking.  
  
"You insolent fool," Voldemort said, his hate radiating from him like an open kettle on a cold day. "You think just because I don't have my wand you have rendered me impotent? After I kill you, very painfully I might add, I will torture your little mudblood girlfriend into insanity before I grant her the sweet release of death."  
  
The smirk immediately left Harry's face. In its place, a look of pure malice was forming.  
  
He didn't quite know what he was going to do with Riddle's wand. He hadn't worked the plan out that far. He didn't expect that the choice of what to do would be made for him.  
  
He thought about Hermione. He thought about how much he loved her. He thought about how much anguish he would feel if he ever let Riddle get near her. He thought about professing his love for her on this very spot. He thought about how many people would die should he fail. He thought about how he had been living on borrowed time his whole life. He thought about how Hagrid had died trying to protect others. He thought about how Sirius had died trying to protect him. He thought about the Weasleys, who had given him a family to call his own. He thought about his best friend Ron Weasley in particular. He thought about how Ron would die trying to protect others the same way that Hagrid had should he fail. He thought about Cedric, and how Voldemort had killed him just when he was beginning life as a man. He thought about the life he would never have, the friends he would never have, the love he would never have, should he fail. He thought about Hermione.  
  
All of Harry's Anguish, Grief, Love, Hate, Courage, and Determination began flowing from him, through the twin wands, and into the makings of one of the greatest spells ever cast. He felt himself lift from the ground, and the phoenix's song in his ear. He closed his eyes and heard the song of the ancients.  
  
He opened his eyes and there was energy rippling around him, tossing and turning, changing color, and growing in intensity. Looking up to the sky, he raised each one of his arms out, holding the twin wands out to his sides.  
  
Voldemort was beyond afraid. He prided himself on being a master of every magic known to man. He had never seen, nor felt anything in the realm of what was transpiring before him.  
  
Harry opened his eyes, now wild with the power coursing through his veins, and stared down at his, no the worlds enemy. He brought the wands together, arms straight, to point them at the evil being. As he closed the distance between the wands, the power seemed to be concentrating more and more at the point at which they would meet.  
  
The wands met, and all the energy swarming around the Boy-who-lived collected to a single pinpoint, just in front of the wands. It paused for a second, and Riddle's life flashed before eyes in an instant. His life was filled with hate and malice. It was also fairly repetitive and boring.  
  
The spell shot forth into Riddle's waist, doubling him over. He stood there, frozen, wide-eyed staring at nothing in particular on the ground as the spell rocked his entire being to the very core. That nothing in particular was the last thing Tom ever saw.  
  
There was a blinding explosion at Tom Riddle's waist. His immortality torn asunder, his body blown apart, the greatest threat to the magical world was no more.  
  
The force of the blast knocked Harry backwards towards the ground. Having unknowingly used a very large part of his own life force to complete the ancient magic, Harry was struggling to keep conscious, nay, to stay alive.  
  
It takes an awful lot of magic to kill an immortal being. The sheer force of the ancient spell Harry had unknowingly invoked ripped a momentary yet invisible tear in the fabric of space and time, and Harry was unwittingly falling right towards it.  
  
Harry was falling backwards, and mid-flight, everything just seemed to.. stop for a fraction of an instant, hardly enough to be noticed.  
  
Harriet Lillian Potter, or Lily to her friends, was wondering the Hogwarts grounds, trying to find solace. The Fourth year girl, as she had been told NUMBEROUS times, was the spitting image of her father. Raven-black hair, glasses, and eyes so green that emeralds look dull in comparison. Everywhere she went, people would either whisper, try to get her attention, or just slack-jawed stare. Being the only daughter of the savior of the world would seem, to most people, to make life a breeze.  
  
What people didn't realize, however, was that it isolated her more than most would care to believe. She never did know if people wanted to get close to her because she was famous, or if it was because of her, the person behind the parentage.  
  
'Thank Merlin for the Weasleys,' she thought to herself. At least she knew that they were true friends. Her mother had had it incredibly difficult after Harry died. She had Lily to care for, and had trouble finding a job, even as intelligent as she was. Her Uncle George and Uncle Fred offered her a position she couldn't refuse. Even though Lily was sure she got an edited version of events from her mother, her mom had never lied to her. The way she tells it, was that George and Fred had gotten the start-up money for Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes, their Joke shop, from her father. They had been very successful, and were going to offer a partnership to Harry after he graduated. Since her father died, they offered it instead to her mom, saying something to the effect of; "Harry would have wanted it this way."  
  
The partnership was beneficial to both sides. Fred and George did the joke inventing, and her mother stayed at home with Lily doing the bookwork and financial management. With her mom helping them, her uncles had been able to branch out into a chain of stores, and with her uncles and their family helping her mom, she was able to keep a very successful and lucrative job while still getting to raise Lily herself.  
  
The Weasleys had become family to Lily and her mom. Grandpa Arthur and Grandma Molly had them over to the Burrow for every holiday. Her cousins, or the seven Weasley sibling's children, however you want to look at it, never saw her as the 'Daughter of the Savior.' They saw her as Lily, their family and more importantly, their friend.  
  
With it being Harry Potter Day , or HP day for short, the entire school had the day off to celebrate the fifteenth year of freedom from the tyranny of he-who-must-not-be-named. Her mother had told her the story of her father's death numerous times over her life, but every HP day it always hit her full force.  
  
Her mom had jumped the gun on Harry's time limit, and was running to the dark forest, just ahead of the army of Hogwarts to what was now called the 'Final Battle'.  
  
Everyone just stopped and stared, however, as they caught sight of Harry and He-who-must-not-be-named.  
  
Her father was levitating a good two meters off the ground, with a wand in each hand, looking as if he was being pulled upward by a hook in his chest. Multiple beams of colors were warping and flowing, swirling around him, casting a reddish tint to the freshly fallen snow and the trees composing the background. The unnamed one was frozen in fear. All of a sudden, the light just seemed to collapse into her father's center, and then rip forward into the unnamed one's waist. There was a blinding light, and then, there was nothing. They eventually found enough pieces of He-Who- Must-Not-Be-Named to declare his threat to the world at an end, but all they ever found of her father was a shoe and a shattered pair of glasses.  
  
The death eaters did come, just as her father fortold, but were ambushed by the Hogwarts army, and no lives were lost. Her father had saved the world, and the lives of every student and staff member at Hogwarts. He did so, but at the cost of his own life.  
  
Lily was going to the one place she felt she could be close to her father, the statue erected at the very place of his victory. The eight meter high marble lightning bolt had, over the last fifteen years, become a symbol of hope to the entire wizarding world. If an eighteen-year old boy could overcome the greatest threat mankind had ever known, then whatever problems anyone had they knew they could surmount.  
  
"Dad, I wish you were here," she began, tears falling down her face. "I know I say this every year, but I need you. Mom needs you. I don't care if you were the Famous Harry Potter of legend or not, I only care that you were my Dad.. I'd give anything to just have you with us."  
  
Lily looked towards the statue, stopping at the inscription etched across the base.  
  
'In Memory of Harry James Potter, The-Boy-Who-Lived, and gave the world hope, The-Boy-Who-Died, and set the world free.'  
  
Lily looked back up, towards the middle, and everything just seemed to.. stop for a fraction of an instant, hardly enough to be noticed.  
  
Out of seemingly thin air, a man shrouded in a black Hogwarts cloak just dropped almost a meter to the ground, striking the apex of his back very hard on impact. Lily ran over to him immediately, and gasped. Whoever this man is, he was half dead already and desperately needed medical attention.  
  
Her own problems forgotten, she hastily got the man to his feet, draped his arm over her shoulder, and began making her way to the castle.  
  
It was a long trek, and Lily had to fight hard to keep him at least conscious enough to help her get him to proper Medi-wizard attention. Many times she had tried to ask this stranger questions, but could not get one coherent answer out of him. He was unable to open his eyes, and his black hair was strewn about his face. Lily, however, did not seem to notice his appearance. Who this stranger actually is was secondary to getting him help.  
  
It took the better part of an hour to get him to the castle, and if her body hadn't been strengthened over the years by playing massive amounts of quidditch, (playing seeker just came naturally to her, most said it was unsurprising, given how excellent a seeker her father was), she probably would not have been able to get him to the castle at all.  
  
'Okay, think Lily,' she thought to herself. 'Where would the closest professor be... It must be lunch by now, I'll have to drag him into the Great Hall.'  
  
Everyone in the Great Hall was enjoying HP day. No one was allowed to leave the school grounds, but still they enjoyed it as much as any holiday. Harry Potter day was started as a memorial to the hero, a time of mourning, but as the years passed on, it blossomed into a day of celebration and remembrance. Albus Dumbledore, the headmaster of the school, was chatting quite happily with the other professors when the doors to the great hall banged open and saw a raven haired student half-carry, half-drag another raven-haired student, this one only half alive at best, down the center isle and towards the table.  
  
Albus quickly ran around the table and over to the pair, noting that one was Lily Potter. Lily gently laid the stranger on the ground when she saw the Headmaster running over to her. Albus stopped, took a good look at the man, and gasped. Now, when any ordinary person gasps, people generally look to see what alarmed that particular person. When Headmaster Dumbledore gasps, people generally come running to see what could have surprised the man who is never surprised.  
  
Harry opened his left eye, using all the energy he could muster, to see a ring of blurry faces all staring down at him. He focused on a girl only a foot to his left, who looked familiar in a deja-vu kind of way, and then up to Albus Dumbledore's face, so close to Harry's own, upside-down, and gaping in recogition and awe.  
  
A memory floated to the surface of his mind, of the only time he had seen anyone collapse on the Great Hall floor. It was a professor wearing an ugly turban.  
  
A slight smile stretched across Harry's face as he looked Dumbledore square in the eye, and uttered a harsh whisper that to even hear it would make your throat hurt. "Troll in the dungeon, thought you should know.." At this he wildly grinned at the older man.  
  
Dumbledore's face broke out into a full blown smile. He gently whispered, more to himself than to anyone in particular, "Thank Merlin, He's Alive."  
  
Lily looked up at him, her curiousity was at its breaking point. "You know this man Professor Dumbledore?"  
  
Albus looked Lily straight in the eye. She could see the twinkle in his blue eyes even behind the wall of tears that was threatening to fall. "This is Harry Potter, Lily, and Thank Merlin, He's Come Back!"  
  
The last thing Harry remembered before falling unconscious was the familiar looking girl's head whipping down to look at him, no, to SEE him, and he stared back up at her eyes, which were overflowing with tears, raining down on him with reckless abandon, and her faint, heartfelt whisper of: "Dad?...." 


	2. Harry's Awakening

Author's Note:  
  
When I wrote Chapter 1, it felt like something was missing. I went ahead and posted it anyway. It came to my attention that I rushed through it and that it lacked some detail. I whole-heartedly agree. I rewrote the first chapter, adding in some backstory and poured some detail into it. Ibso Facto, if you have been following this and haven't re-read the first chapter, I suggest you do so. It is much better now.  
  
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Harry slowly slipped back into consciousness. He opened his eyes, ever so slowly, and was disgusted at once again waking to the white walls and ceiling of the infirmary. Instinctively, he reached to where the nightstand would be, searching for his glasses. He could not find them.  
  
"Your glasses aren't there, Potter," rumbled a familiar voice from across the private room.  
  
"Malfoy?" Harry squinted at the blonde blur he assumed was Draco.  
  
"Yeah."  
  
"What did you do with my glasses Malfoy!" Harry accused. It was just like him to come give him grief over once again 'playing the hero'. "Come to yell at me for calling attention to myself once again?"  
  
"No, Po-.. Harry."  
  
Harry was shocked. Draco had never called him anything but his last name, and at that, he usually spat it out as if it were a curse word.  
  
"I didn't take your glasses, you lost them when you killed V-Voldemort."  
  
"I feel like I've been hit by a bus, Draco." If Draco was extending the hand of friendship once again, Harry was going to try to meet him at least halfway.  
  
Draco chuckled. "You've been asleep for a week, we've had someone with you every minute incase you should wake. We didn't want you to be disoriented."  
  
"Draco? What did Dumbledore mean when he said that I'm alive and had come back? And what about that girl who called me dad?"  
  
"I'm not sure I should be the one to tell you that, Harry."  
  
Harry could sense the tension in his voice. But once again, he felt he was being let out of the information loop. Trying his best to keep his temper, he calmly asked. "If you can't tell me, can you tell me someone who can?"  
  
"Let me fetch Lily, she should be the one to tell you."  
  
"Lily?"  
  
"The girl who saved you."  
  
"Oh."  
  
Draco stood to leave, but Harry held him back with a question.  
  
"Draco? What happened? Why are you being so... NICE to me?"  
  
"People change, Harry. I realize now that I was always jealous of you, the attention you got, being the 'golden boy'. I never knew how much you had to sacrifice in your life. I am truly sorry for all the pain I have caused you. You had it hard enough as it was without me making it worse for you."  
  
Harry could hear the honesty behind Draco's statement. "Thank you, Draco."  
  
Harry saw the blur move, he assumed it was a nod, before it left the room, leaving Harry alone with his thoughts.  
  
'Why couldn't he tell me? How could Draco's attitudes change over a week?' He thought some more. 'More importantly, why was Dumbledore crying? And the girl who called me dad, she has to at least be a third or fourth year student, I'm sure I would have seen her at least once in the last three years.'  
  
The more Harry thought, the more confused he became.  
  
'And where is Hermione? And Ron? If they aren't here...' If they weren't here, there were only two explanations. Either they were in class, simply because it wasn't their turn to stay while he slept, or...  
  
Or they died when the Death eaters finally showed up.  
  
'No, no, they couldn't have died.' He told himself, trying to keep his hopes up. 'But they could have,' a second voice in the back of his mind told him.  
  
'And why would that girl be the one who should tell me?' he asked himself, trying to get the thoughts of his friends being dead out of his mind. 'How does she fit into all of this?'  
  
He was brought out of his reverie by the sound of the door opening. Looking away from the ceiling, he tried with all his will to focus on the person. He didn't succeed.  
  
"Hello?"  
  
"Hi." a whisper came back to him. An unfamiliar whisper.  
  
"Do I know you?" he asked, wanting so badly to know who this person was, yet unable to bring himself to say something so rude as 'who are you?'  
  
"No, you don't know me, not yet anyway. Here, Professor Dumbledore wanted me to give these to you."  
  
She handed him a pair of glasses, which he gratefully accepted and placed on his face. Now able to finally get a good look at the girl, whom he assumed was this Lily person, he stared at her trying to place where he had seen her before.  
  
'Okay, how would Mione do this..' He thought to himself. 'She'd probably make a list of attributes and see if they add up to something. Lets see, Black- make that VERY black hair.. Green eyes.. Round Glasses, they look a lot like mi...  
  
"You look just like me!" Harry exclaimed, wondering if she is a sister he had never heard of.  
  
She blushed. Just like Harry does. "Yeah, everyone tells me that... Dad."  
  
"Dad? What do you mean, Dad? You look like you must be at least a third or fourth year, how could I be your Dad?" Harry was sure this girl, even if she looked just like him, had lost her damn mind.  
  
"Okay, let's start at the beginning," Lily began. "The night before you fought Who-Know-Who,"  
  
"Voldemort." Harry stated. Lily gasped. "What, are you afraid that if you say his name, he's going to just..show up, tap you on the shoulder, and say 'BOO' ? Harry stated. Man was he sick of the whole Who-Know-Who schtick. "Fear of the name only increases fear of the thing."  
  
Lily blushed again, but nodded. "Alright, the night before you fought V- Voldemort, you and mom got together for the first and only time." Harry nodded, but then said "I don't know how you know about that, but if I've been out for a week, that means that was only eight days ago."  
  
"No, Dad, that was fifteen years and eight days ago. Mom saw you kill V-V- Voldemort and then there was an explosion of light. They found enough pieces of V-Voldemort to declare him dead, and all they ever found of you was your glasses and a shoe. Everyone assumed that the spell you used had consumed your body."  
  
Harry let this revelation sink in. He was now more confused than ever. "But I just saw Draco! What is he doing here if fifteen years have passed?"  
  
"Professor Malfoy teaches potions here at Hogwarts now."  
  
"PROFESSOR Malfoy? By Merlin! The world is now officially upside down!"  
  
Lily chuckled. "You think that's bad? Think about how you, at the ripe old age of eighteen, has a fifteen year old daughter sitting right next to you."  
  
That realization hit Harry pretty hard. "So, Lily, Hermione named you after my mother?"  
  
"Yes and no, Dad. Mom named me after you. My full name is Harriet Lillian Potter. Mom named me after you, then after your Mother."  
  
"How is Hermione?" He thought for a bit, and then asked: "Who's your step- father?"  
  
There was a hint of sadness in her eyes, Harry noted. "Mom's great. She works with Uncle Fred and Uncle George."  
  
"At the joke shop?" Harry asked.  
  
"No Dad, not a joke shop. A chain of novelty humor stores. They have thirty-six stores now."  
  
"Wow.." Harry wasn't sure he could take many more revelations, but he had to know. "A-and your step-dad?"  
  
"Mom never got married. I mean sure, she dated a bit, but the few guys who weren't intimidated by the fact that they had to try to fill the 'famous Harry Potter's' shoes couldn't handle the fact that she already had a daughter." She sniffed. It was obvious that she blamed herself for her mother's loneliness.  
  
Harry was going to change the subject, he couldn't see Lily cry like that, when the door opened yet again.  
  
In walked Headmaster Dumbledore, and..  
  
"Lucious Malfoy?" Harry exclaimed.  
  
"No, Harry, it's me, Draco. I trust Lily has told you?"  
  
"Yeah, I've been gone fifteen years." Harry sighed out.  
  
"Then please try to remember that everyone you know is now fifteen years older. I may look like my father, but other than that superficial aspect, I am nothing like him. I refused to be molded into his image any longer the night you died., er, dissapeared.  
  
"So, potions professor, eh?" He said with a grin, trying to get Draco's mind off something that was obviously bothering him.  
  
"Yeah, Severus owled me himself, saying something to the effect of 'Potter's daughter is going to have her father's ability to attract trouble, her mother's know-it-all attitude, and Weasley's propensity to cause havok." Draco said, grinning the whole while. "He was exactly right, of course, but I doubt that was the reason for his retirement. I think he retired just because it was time."  
  
Harry had forgotten that Professor Dumbledore had come into the room, and until now, had been quietly watching the exchange. "Lily," he said. "I think you should owl your Mother and the Weasleys, I am sure that they wish to know that Harry is with us once again." He contemplated his next choice of words carefully, then said: "Be sure to tell them of Harry's... age. I wouldn't want any nasty shocks when they see him again."  
  
Lily nodded, then bent down and kissed her father on his forehead. She was halfway out the door when Professor Dumbledore spoke again.  
  
"Lily, use my private owls. They are the fastest in the school."  
  
Lily nodded, then ran out the door, and presumably, to the owlrey.  
  
"Professor," Harry began, but Professor Dumbledore cut him off.  
  
"Please, Harry, call me Albus."  
  
"Okay... Albus.. Uh, I.. Uh... why. why didn't you owl them when I was asleep?"  
  
The twinkle in Albus's eyes left abruptly. "We honestly didn't know if you were ever going to wake. It was decided that we would tell them about you if you woke, to spare them losing you a second time."  
  
"So," Harry thought aloud, "Everyone thought I was dead?"  
  
"Yes, EVERYONE did. The nearest I can tell, you were catapulted through time, explaining the fact that for all appearances and your lack of memory, that you are still eighteen years old. Quite humorous, really, that you should reappear on the holiday named after you." The twinkle was back.  
  
"I have a holiday named after me?" Harry asked, his eyes wide with disbelief.  
  
"Do you think that you deserved any less? You did, after all, free the world from Voldemort, and saved the lives of every student and teacher at this school from the Deatheaters."  
  
Harry heard Draco sniff, and looked over to him. "Draco? What's wrong?"  
  
Draco never answered Harry, just merely walked out of the room, his head down and making very wet sniffing sounds.  
  
"Albus?" Harry looked at him, knowing that surely he had the answer to Draco's uncharacteristic behavior.  
  
Dumbledore never took his eyes away from the open door where Draco had exited. "After you di. Left, The Deatheater raid came just as you foretold. Draco was forced to kill his own father.  
  
Harry couldn't take anymore shocking news today, and Albus seemed to sense it. "Harry, you are still weak. You should get some rest."  
  
Harry nodded, and began making himself comfortable.  
  
Albus reached for a vial of clear looking potion, and handed it to Harry. "Professor Malfoy made this for you, he was sure you would need it for the first couple nights after your coma."  
  
Harry accepted it, but looked at him questioningly with one eyebrow raised.  
  
Albus laughed softly. "It is a potion for dreamless sleep. I promise I will wake you when Ms. Granger and the Weasely Family arrive."  
  
"Thank you, Albus." Harry said before draining the vial.  
  
"I'll see you when you wake, Harry. I'd say sweet dreams, but you won't be having any."  
  
Harry nodded, removed his glasses, and fell into a peaceful, dreamless sleep. 


	3. Letters, Bullies, and a new skill

Author's Note:  
  
I thought I was clear about the whole 'Harry's Death' thing, but I was mistaken by the sound of the reviews. Harry was never, ever dead. He was thrown 15 years into the future. Since he was not around for those 15 years, people assumed he was dead. Assumed. Dead. Assumed. K, think we're clear.  
  
Hehe, sounds kinda like I'm mad, but I'm really not. I just want it to be crystal.  
  
P.S. I just wanted to let you all know that I really can't write with a British flavor, so if it sounds too American to anyone who notices, I apologize. Feel free to change the dialog in your head at your leisure.  
  
Icedragonmo3  
  
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Harry awoke, only a few hours later, to the sound of a semi-familiar voice saying things to him. He opened his eyes, and reached for his glasses. Whomever was reading stopped when they noticed the movement, and when he got his glasses finally on his face, he saw that it was none other than Lily.  
  
"You're awake?" she tentatively whispered, as though anymore sound might cause him to disappear or spontaneously combust into flames.  
  
"Yeah." His eyes blinked one at a time. She noticed and giggled.  
  
"But, why are you awake? That draught should have kept you under for at least eight hours!"  
  
"Heh," he laughed embarrassedly. "I've taken that potion more times over the last seven years than most people have in a lifetime. It's a small wonder that I have a small resistance to it."  
  
She nodded, blushing at the obvious answer. Her mother, of course, had told Lily everything she knew about her father, beginning when she could understand words. She felt like she knew him already.  
  
'She is so shy!' he thought to himself. 'If it wasn't for her looks, I'd swear she's not really my daughter.' "So what were you saying when I woke up?"  
  
"Oh, I've been reading 'Hogwart's, A History' to you ever since you were in that coma. Mom said that you never did get around to reading it, and since I was only on page 373 when you woke, I figured I'd read the rest to you while you recovered."  
  
"No, I guess I never did." He stopped, and realized that this was the chance he was waiting for. His first opening for a conversation with his daughter. "So, um, do you read that book a lot too?"  
  
She had the grace to blush a second time, and nodded. "Like mother, like daughter, you know."  
  
He laughed for maybe a syllable or two, then frowned. "How is 'Mione? I mean really, is she happy?"  
  
Lily's face seemed to cloud for just a moment while she thought.  
  
'Wow. You can really tell that she takes after Mione in the brain department,' he was thinking as she formulated her answer.  
  
"She's...okay, dad. She misses you, to this day. I wonder when she's going to be getting here?"  
  
"If they act now anything like they acted fifteen years ago, I'll bet Molly is forcing everyone to gather at the burrow before they head over here."  
  
Lily laughed the first deep laugh Harry had ever heard out of her. "I guess some things never change, do they dad?"  
  
"No," he chuckled, "I guess they don't. Do I remember right in thinking that Dumbledore said you could use his private owls?"  
  
"Yeah, but there was a small problem with that."  
  
"Oh?"  
  
"Yeah, I was up on my way to give the letters to his owls, when this phoenix came throught the window, and snatched them from my hand before taking off."  
  
Harry laughed. "Dumbledore doesn't have private owls. He has Fawkes. He set you up."  
  
"Fawkes?"  
  
"Lily! Are you even my child? Haven't you been sent to the headmasters office at least once?"  
  
"No, I mean, yes, I am your daughter, and no, I haven't been sent there ever." She looked sad at the accusation.  
  
"Cheer up Lily, it was only a joke. Fawkes is Dumbledore's Phoenix. Can fly faster than you can imagine. He stays in the headmaster's office. Pretty good friend of mine, that phoenix."  
  
"Spend a lot of time in the office, dad?" She said grinning.  
  
'At least she's not sad anymore.' "Obviously your mother didn't tell you EVERYTHING about me now, did she?"  
  
Lily laughed. "Yeah, well I was about to go write two new notes when I ran into Professor Dumbledore and told him what happened. He said that everything would be fine and I should come back down to be there if you woke. So here I am!"  
  
Say, are you hungry?"  
  
"Starving," she replied.  
  
"Great, would you grab my uniform? I just need to get dressed.." He was cut off.  
  
"But DAD!, you shouldn't be getting out of bed! I mean just a week ago you were on the verge of death!"  
  
"Oh, come ON! I've been in this infirmary so many times that I should have a wing named after me! I think I know if I can handle a bit of a walk or not." With this, he proceeded to swing his legs off the bed and stand, using one hand to hold his hospital gown closed behind him while steadying himself with his other hand on the bed.  
  
Lily let out an exasperated sigh, (which to Harry's amusement sounded just like Hermione's,) and walked across the room to gather his things. She returned with them, handed them over to Harry, and mumbled "They do."  
  
"Sorry?"  
  
She spoke up. "I said they do have an infirmary wing named after you."  
  
Harry just chucked to himself as he pulled up his trousers under his hospital gown. "I'd say that I'm shocked, but I don't think much more can shock me at this point. I'm kinda shocked out."  
  
"IF, you insist on going to get some food, then I am going to help you," she said VERY stubbornly, just like a bushy-haired female her father knew well.  
  
"That's good, I could use a hand." He contemplated for a bit. "I'm sorry, its just that I really need to get up and walk around a bit." Harry buttoned his trousers and then pulled the hospital gown over his head, replacing it with a T-shirt. He slipped his feet into his boots, then asked, "Ready?"  
  
"Ready Dad."  
  
Harry took two steps, then stumbled and almost fell. He would have fell, if Lily hadn't caught him.  
  
"How about you hold onto my arm, and we'll take it really slow, k?"  
  
"Alright." Harry looked disappointed at needing the help, but was still grateful for it.  
  
"JUST WHERE DO YOU THINK YOU TWO ARE GOING?" Harry heard just as they got to the door.  
  
"Busted," he whispered to her as they turned around, causing her to giggle.  
  
"I am going for a walk, Madame Pomfrey."  
  
"I DON'T THINK SO, YOU CAN'T JU-"  
  
Harry cut her off, but in a tone that any rational person could figure out that he was trying to hold his temper. "I am going for a walk, Madame Pomfrey."  
  
"NO YOU ARE MOST CERTAINLY NOT! I AM GOI-"  
  
"POPPY!" Harry shouted, and Madame Pomfrey looked positively frightened. "I am going for a walk. I will be back to rest afterwards, understood?"  
  
The noticeably pale Medi-wizard mutely nodded her acceptance.  
  
"Thank you," Harry said while rolling his eyes, the simple two words dripping with heavy sarcasm.  
  
As the two Potters slowly made their way from the Medical wing, Harry's curiosity got the better of him "I wonder why she let us go? Every time I lost my temper with her before she never let me go then?"  
  
"It's simple, Dad. Before when you lost your temper, you were just a kid who got mad. Now, you are probably regarded as the most powerful wizard who ever lived. I doubt anyone who recognizes you will want to anger you intentionally."  
  
Harry only nodded sadly and they continued.  
  
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Meanwhile:  
  
Ms. Hermione Granger was sitting in her office in her manor, trying to work on her ledger for the twins. She would call it an office. Most would call it a library. The 'office', as she saw it, was a good eight meters high, thirty meters square, and lined wall to wall, floor to ceiling with books. On her enormous desk sat a mug of coffee, four open books, three ledgers, a bottle of ink, a quill, and a framed picture.  
  
The wizarding picture itself was of Harry, Hermione, and Ron, at the beginning of term in their seventh year. Hermione was in the middle looking very serene and introspective some of the time, and laughing like a lunatic with the other two at other times. Ron was on her right, making bunny ears now and then or pulling something out his pocket and eating it. Harry was on her right, smiling as if he didn't have a care in the world. The other two in the photograph new better, however.  
  
She watched the photo with red-rimmed eyes that threatened to wash over with tears, completely ignoring her work. Harry would pull her close now and then and kiss her cheek, and Hermione in turn would show a smile that would seemingly brighten the entire field in which the photograph was taken.  
  
Hermione sniffed and wiped away an arrant tear with the very tips of her fingers. 'Come on Hermione,' she chided herself. 'Every year you are like this for at least a week and a half after HP day. Just calm down, and concentrate on your work.'  
  
Just as she had picked up the quill and was attempting another stab at the ledgers, a phoenix flew through the window carrying a letter.  
  
"Fawkes?" she asked in astonishment.  
  
The phoenix trilled a short note, dropped the letter in the middle of the desk, then landed right on her shoulder. Hermione noticed that he had another letter in his other claw, but like hers was completely unmarked. Fawkes gently pressed his forehead into hers and looked her in the eye for a moment before taking to flight again, directly out the window he came.  
  
'Why would Fawkes be bringing a letter?' she thought to herself as she opened said letter.  
  
Hermione stood up with a start, knocking over her mug of coffee shattering it onto the floor, and then stared straight ahead at the wall for a moment. Her wits soon came back to her, and she dropped her quill, dropped the letter, and raced out of the room, grabbing her cloak as she went.  
  
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"So, where are we going anyway, Dad?"  
  
"Oh, I know of this pear that just loves a good tickle-"  
  
"Whatcha got there, Potter?" a voice interrupted him from behind. Both Potters whipped around to look who had spoken.  
  
"Oh, no," Harry heard Lily whisper in what was a small, scared sounding voice.  
  
"What, the little Half-blood got a boyfriend now?"  
  
Harry turned to Lily. "Who IS this bastard?"  
  
"Evan Flint.. He's terrorized me since first year."  
  
"And you never stood up to him?"  
  
Lily looked down, afraid to meet her father's glare. "Mom always said that I should find an adult, or just to ignore it."  
  
"Well, no daughter of mine is going to have to take this any LONGER!"  
  
Harry turned back towards Evan, the rage evident in his eyes. "You must be Marcus Flint's kid. I recognize the teeth."  
  
The four Slytherins watching the encounter behind Evan gasped. Apparently, Flint's teeth were a sore spot for him.  
  
"What did you just say? Huh? What. Did. You. Say. Squib?" Flint was beyond angry.  
  
"Talk to Lily like that again, and I'll make sure you have a bed right next to mine in the infirmary." Harry retorted, fully meeting his glare, while Lily just looked shocked at the entire ordeal.  
  
"Like what, call her a half-blood? So what if I do? Her Father's dead" here he paused for dramatic effect, his head shaking out every word in an 'I dare you to' manner. "And her Mother's a mud-"  
  
Evan never finished that sentence. One instant, Harry became a blur, and the next instant, Flint was face down on the ground, completely unconscious, while Harry stood, with his right hand still in a fist, glaring at the Slytherins who seemed to be looking at him with fear and awe mixed together.  
  
"W-w-who are y-ou?" One dared to ask.  
  
Harry walked over to talk nose-to-nose with the one who asked the question. The cowed Slytherin could see the green fire burn with cold light in his eyes. "Look at the scar. Do the math." He waited until the recognition hit home. "If anyone..ANYONE" he shouted, looking at the rest of them. "If anyone so much as glances sideways at my daughter again, I won't be held responsible for what happens. If you think I'M bad, you should see her when she's angry. She is, as of right now, allowed to defend herself anyway she deems fit. I'm not going to hold her back anymore. May whatever god you pray to help you should you hurt or anger her again."  
  
Harry glared at the rest of the Slytherins one last time before walking over to his daughter, taking her hand, and stalking away. When they were around the corner and out of view, Harry seemed to lose all his strength.  
  
"Why don't we just sit here for a bit."  
  
A very pale Lily only nodded, and they both sat on the floor with their backs to the wall.  
  
Harry chuckled to himself. "That was weird."  
  
Lily, who had been staring at the wall opposite them with wide adrenaline fueled eyes, let out a snort. "Which part?"  
  
Harry turned his head to look at her. "Well, he started calling you and your mother names, then the sound just stopped. I looked around and everyone was just.. Not moving. So, I ran up to him and hit him as hard as I could. But the weird thing is, he just fell, really slowly. Almost not at all at first, like I didn't even touch him. He did start speeding up on the way down though, and when I looked up, everyone was moving and breathing again."  
  
Lily looked to her father. "From what I saw?, you just vanished in a blur, and the next moment you were standing over him and he was unconscious. Almost like you were moving to fast for us to see." Her voice was shaking, and Harry didn't know if that was a good thing or a bad thing.  
  
"Come on, we need to speak to Dumbledore on this," Harry began as he gathered himself to his feet. "Something tells me that my little trip through time has had some more effect on me than is known."  
  
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Meanwhile:  
  
Molly Weasley was happily humming herself a tune, while fixing some dinner for the five grandchildren she was watching. They were not old enough yet to go to school, and Molly had missed a noisy house, so she had volunteered to watch them while their parents were at work. She turned to check on them, and did a quick head count. "Red, red, red, white, white. All here." Still, the memory of Bill's reaction when their first daughter had been born with white hair amused her. 'Well what did he think? She's part Veela! I really don't think that he could have expected children with red hair, now could he?' she thought to herself.  
  
Her thoughts drifted while the dinner cooked, and her thoughts landed on Hermione. 'I wonder how the poor child is holding up? She's always so depressed this time of year. I should Floo her and invite her over for dinner.'  
  
Just as she was walking towards the fireplace, a phoenix flew in through the open window, dropping a letter directly in her hand before circling back and exiting through the window it entered.  
  
Molly looked down at the letter, it was unmarked. She turned it over, checking it for some sign of who it was from, but all effort was to no avail. 'That looked like Albus's Phoenix,' she thought to herself as she tore open the letter. The further down the note she read the more tears fell from her eyes. When she finished, she pressed the letter to her chest, looked up towards the ceiling, and collected herself. She then proceeded to run, not walk, to the fireplace. She through some floo powder into the fireplace and shouted "Arthur Weasley!"  
  
The grandchildren, whom up until now had been just a hair above bored on the fun scale, dropped what they were currently doing and ran over to see what the commotion was all about.  
  
Arthur Weasley's Head appeared in the fire. "GRANDPA!" all the children shrieked when they saw him. "Hi kids!," he greeted them. "What's wrong Molly? Why are you crying?"  
  
"He's back," She whispered out. "Our lost son is back. Take some time off, Arthur, We need to roundup all the children and grandchildren as quickly as possible."  
  
"What's going on?" Arthur looked incredibly confused.  
  
"ARTHUR WEASLEY GET HOME RIGHT THIS VERY INSTANT!" The famous Weasley temper was back in full swing.  
  
"I'll be right there dear." He turned to face the kids. "I'll be home in just a minute kids! And I've got plugs!" he teased in a singsong voice to them.  
  
The kids cheered.  
  
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Harry and Lily were limping back towards the infirmary, so Harry could rest while Lily fetched Dumbledore, when a question she had been holding back finally was let go.  
  
"Why did you tell them that I was even more dangerous than you? I'm going to get killed within a week!"  
  
Harry chuckled for a second before he started coughing. "Two reasons. One, I can't belive that your mother let you be bullied for this long. That should put the fear into them good. Two, this gives me a chance to train you, and spend some time getting to know the daughter I didn't know I had."\  
  
Lily blushed. "Thanks Dad, I love you."  
  
"Pretty sure I love you too, kiddo. Now lets go, even my hair hurts right now." 


	4. Family Reunion, Mom's Arrival

Author's Note:  
  
Sorry bout the delay, I get writer's block really bad. Say, do your spouses tell you to get off the computer all the time also? Just wondering.  
  
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Ronald Weasley was waiting. Merlin, did he hate to wait. His Mother was in the process of calling his last sibling home, so they could be informed of 'The Emergency'. So he sat, anxious, with a doomed feeling in the pit of his stomach. Waiting.  
  
"Harry, come 'ere," he said. A small red-headed boy came bounding over from where he was playing with his cousins.  
  
"Hi Daddy!" the boy said, flashing a smile stretching ear to ear that reminded everyone of his father.  
  
"Come keep your old man sane 'till Grandma tells us why we're here."  
  
"K," the boy, Harry, replied unsure of what he was supposed to do.  
  
"So Harry! How old are you now?" Lavender Weasley asked, sitting down next to her husband.  
  
"This many Mummy!" Harry was actually beaming while holding up four fingers.  
  
Ron and Lavender's attention was then turned to the matriarch calling the last sibling.  
  
"Virgina Longbottom!" Molly yelled as she she threw some floo powder in the fireplace. A few instants later, Ginny's head appeared in the fireplace.  
  
"Hi Mum!" she beamed, but her look quickly changed to worry once she noticed her mother's expression. "What's wrong, Mum?"  
  
"Is Neville at home today?"  
  
"Yeah, he's in his herb garden, why?"  
  
"I need you both to floo over this instant, there's an emergency, I'll tell you when you get here."  
  
"Alright Mum, we'll be right there." She said, just before her head vanished from the fire.  
  
Molly turned away from the fireplace, eyeing her family warily.  
  
George and Fred were sitting with their wives, Padma and Parvati, teaching Roger and David how to use a new gag item they had invented. They weren't twins, as one was George's and one was Fred's, but they looked similar enough, having identical gene bases for conception. Whenever anyone asked either set why they married the twins and all live in the same mansion, their only reply was 'You'd have to be a twin to get it.'  
  
Not to mention the fact that no one would say who married which twin. The Weasleys could tell George and Fred apart, the Patils could tell Padma and Parvati apart, but the only ones who could tell who was who between all four were, in fact, those four. It should be noted that said four found it the funniest joke they had ever played. A close second was that even Roger and David were in on it, and wouldn't admit even to family whose sons they actually were.  
  
"'Ave you seen 'er pu' tha' le'er down ye'?" Fleur asked her obviously worry-stricken husband.  
  
"No, I haven't," Bill replied. "Hmmm. I think that letter has something to do with why we're here. Well, we'd better gather the kids, we'll be told once Ginny and Nev get here."  
  
"O're right," she agreed. "Philippe! Mona!" she hollered, and soon enough the only two white-haired beings in the burrow came running to their Mother."  
  
"Yes, Mum?" they asked in unison, making everyone in earshot grin, momentarily distracted.  
  
"Come 'ere, wee'll be told soon. Joost stay cloose."  
  
"Okay, Mum." They replied, yet again in unison, and went about playing at the feet of their parents.  
  
Just then, Neville and Virginia Longbottom came tumbling out the fireplace, Neville landing flat on his face, while Ginny gracefully landed on her toetips. Neville was the living embodiment of the muggle adage 'The more things change, the more they stay the same.' He had grown out of his teenage pudginess, and was now a solid, rugged, muscular and downright attractive man. Yet, he was still as clumsy as the day he first came to Hogwarts, and managed to botch anything that didn't grow from the ground.  
  
"I hate travelling by floo," he muttered, so that only Ginny could hear him. She giggled in return, while helping him to his feet.  
  
Charlie, having no significant other, took a seat by his father. "Hey Dad."  
  
"Hey Charlie."  
  
"Keep me calm 'till mum's ready, and I'll get you a. what'dyacallit? Eclectic fan for Christmas."  
  
"Heh, deal son." Arthur was a sucker for an 'eclectic' anything, even though he had no electricity.  
  
"OKAY! MAY I HAVE EVERYONE'S ATTENTION PLEASE!" Molly hollered over the chatter of the room, which became deadly silent the halfway through her shout, save for one small comment.  
  
"Damn!" muttered Charlie from the table.  
  
Molly gathered herself for just a moment, closing her eyes while collecting her thoughts.  
  
She reopened them, to speak only two words. "Harry's Alive." It was barely more than a whisper, but everyone heard it just the same.  
  
Everyone was stunned. Scratch that, everyone over the age of ten was stunned.  
  
"Harry who?" asked little Harry Weasley, curious as to what everyone was so shocked over.  
  
Molly knelt down to speak to him eye to eye.  
  
"Harry Potter, Love."  
  
At this final statement, reactions differed. Ron fell off the couch, with a disbelieving look on his face. Lavender fainted. Padma fainted into George's arms. Parvati managed to keep her consciousness, but barely kept her balance. Ginny fainted, and Nev barely caught her. Nev projected utter confusion, but no one noticed. Fleur also fainted, lolling her head onto Bill's lap. Bill and Charlie both let their mouths hang wide open. Percy was trying to act composed as usual, but anyone who looked close could see the tears threatening to fall. Fred, who's attention span rivals that of guppies, inwardly beamed at how his wife was the one to not faint. Arthur wept openly.  
  
After a few minutes of stunned silence, the still conscious Weasleys and spouses all shouted questions at once at Molly. Molly held her hands up, and waited for everyone to fall still again.  
  
"Wait, there's more." At this, there were a couple gasps, not understanding how there could be more, but raptly listening nonetheless. "According to Lily's letter, he is also eighteen years old. Apparently Professor Dumbledore has a theory on that.. When he killed V.. V.. 'Him'.. He was thrown forward in time. How this is pertinent, is that he was not in hiding, has no knowledge of the last fifteen years, and was barely able to cope with the fact that he has a daughter. A daughter, mind you, almost as old as he is. We NEED to introduce all the additions to the family and the history of the time he was missing to him SLOWLY. Now, Albus has connected our fireplace to the one in his office. I only want Arthur and I, Ron, Lavender, and 'Little' Harry, and Ginny and Neville to come see him at first." The ones not named groaned and wanted to protest, but knew better. "I'll let you know when I can get him here. get him home. And THEN, he can be introduced to the WHOLE family. Understood?"  
  
There were some more groans, but generally everyone nodded their heads. All had learned not to argue when Molly was in that tone.  
  
"Molly," Fleur began, "I 'ould like to bring my zizter to the reception. She never 'ad a chance to thank him.. 'ow you say. Properly. for zaving 'er."  
  
Molly smiled and nodded. "Of course, dear."  
  
"Okay, lets go kids. If the rest of you want to stay here, I can let you know how he is when we get back later tonight."  
  
Everyone seemed to lighten up at this comment, but the tension was still palpable.  
  
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:MEANWHILE:  
  
Hermione ran through the castle, dodging students left and right, making her way to the infirmary. She ran up to within a foot of the infirmary door, then stopped dead in her tracks.  
  
'Dear Merlin!' she thought to herself. 'I must look a mess! What if he doesn't still find me attractive? I am thirty three now... And he's still eighteen.' She began to dust down her robes and try to make some semblance of a decent hairstyle in a nearby window. 'I don't care what the age difference is.' Even she saw that she was trying so very hard to convince herself more than what she would say to anyone who would see them together. 'I just want him back in my life.'  
  
Hermione took in a deep breath and let it out, trying to calm herself, when the door to the infirmary opened rather sharply, startling her. She barely dodged out of the way.  
  
Madame Pomfrey opened the door on her way to report Harry's condition to the Headmaster, when she caught sight of a face she hadn't seen for fifteen years.  
  
"Ms. Granger!" she exclaimed. "What are you doing dottling out here? Go on, get in there. Mr. Potter and your daughter are waiting for you inside. Last door on the left, I assume you know the way?"  
  
Hermione nodded, then let Madame Pomfrey pass. Of course she knew the way. She was present for the dedication of the 'Harry Potter' wing. She took in another deep breath and let it out, then began walking towards her child and her soulmate.  
  
The closer she got to the wing, the clearer Lily's voice became. 'She's reading 'Hogwarts, A History' to him.' She chuckled to herself. 'How pathetic is it that I can recognize the book after only a few sentences.'  
  
She opened the door as silently as she could, and the first thing she laid eyes on was Lily, in a chair beside the cot, reading aloud the book while absentmindedly stroking his hair. HIS HAIR! She let out an audible gasp.  
  
Lily looked up at the sound of the gasp, and her face broke out into a huge smile. She silently set the book on the floor, and approached her Mum, gathering her in a warm hug. Hermione couldn't take her eyes off of Harry, and didn't even respond to the hug.  
  
"Oh. My. God." She managed to squeak out.  
  
"He's sleeping, he overstrained himself earlier." Lily explained.  
  
"Let me guess, someone said something and Harry did something physical back." Hermione theorized.  
  
"How did you-?" Lily started, but was cut off.  
  
"Because that's Harry. Always protecting everyone regardless off himself." She sighed a wistful note, an odd smile playing at the corners of her lips.  
  
She walked over and sat beside him, resuming stroking his hair where their daughter had left off.  
  
"You told me in the letter that he was still only eighteen, but somehow it just wasn't... REAL, until I saw for myself."  
  
Lily only nodded, unsure as to what needed to be said.  
  
"I've missed you so much, Harry." She leaned forward and kissed him softly on the forehead, taking his hand in hers.  
  
Harry smiled in his sleep, but that lasted only a moment. Soon, he started to whimper, gently rocking his head side to side.  
  
"Didn't they give him dreamless sleep potion?" she half-asked, half-accused her only child.  
  
"They did, but I don't think he took it before he fell asleep. He was really exhaused.," Lily told her, a worrying, curious look on her face.  
  
"Oh no," she murmured, quickly getting out of her chair and grabbing Harry by the shoulders. "Harry! HARRY! WAKE UP!"  
  
Harry didn't wake. He did, however, get a lot more vocal. "N... No.. 'Mione.. Ron.. Lily!.. N. I'll do any... NO! DON'T KILL HER! HERMIONE!!!!!"  
  
Hermione gave Lily a surprised look. She knew better than any, save for Harry himself, that he only has nightmares about those he truly loves.  
  
"NO!!!!!!!!!!!"  
  
Harry awoke with a start, and seeing someone inches from his face caused him to panic. He scrambled out of the cot, hit the floor, and scooted backwards as fast as he could, kicking his way to the wall looking at Hermione with total fear. He was gasping very loudly, and trying to calm down.  
  
"It's okay, it's okay, Harry, it was just a nightmare." she said very softly, trying to calm him.  
  
Harry squinted at her, unable to see properly without his glasses on. "'Mione?" he asked tentatively, very disoriented. "Could you get my glasses, please?"  
  
"Um, sure." Hermione gathered his glasses off the nightstand and walked over to Harry. "Before you put these on," she added as almost an afterthought, "remember that I'm not eighteen anymore. I don't want you to freak out or anything."  
  
"Okay," her fiancée replied, before slipping the glasses on his face. What he saw took his breath away.  
  
Her once bushy, long hair was now around her ears, not longer than her chin, and sleek. Her big brown eyes that he loved losing himself in were now even deeper pools of cinnamon. She had the beginnings of worry lines about her brow, but Harry fully expected that. His 'Mione did nothing but worry anyway. Then he focused on her body. Her robes were skimpy, showing off a trim figure that looked even better than her teenage figure. 'Can't tell she pushed a kid out, that's for sure,' he thought to himself with a sly grin.  
  
Hermione, at the sight of Harry's smile, had lost all fear. "Just what are you grinning at, Mr. Potter?"  
  
"You look fantastic."  
  
She didn't want to believe him, but one look at the sincerity in his eyes told her all she needed to know.  
  
"You need to rest, Harry. I'm not going anywhere. We have plenty of time to catch up."  
  
Harry settled himself into bed, then nodded sleepily at her.  
  
"Here, drink this," she said as she handed him a vial of sleepless draught. "I'll be here when you wake."  
  
"Good night Love," he smiled at Hermione. She smiled back at him and whispered "Goodnight Love." He turned to Lily "Good night Love," smiling warmly at her. "Goodnight, Dad," she whispered back, her eyes watering up at getting to wish her father goodnight for the first time.  
  
Harry fell back asleep, this time not to dream, but with a contented smile that did not fade for the next three hours. 


	5. The Weasleys Arrive

Author's Note:  
  
Sorry for waiting so long to update. Had no idea what I was gonna do next.  
  
One thing, I didn't realize that I had messed up the ages according to Hogwarts school time. I didn't realize until after the first four chapters that students are 17 in their 7th year, not 18. Forgive me.  
  
Also, the idea that I have 'fans' is laughable. Heh. On with the story!  
  
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Harry awoke with difficulty. He didn't move his head. He didn't reach for his glasses. He just simply asked a question. "Is it still fifteen years later?"  
  
He heard the Headmaster's voice answer him. "Yes. Still fifteen years later."  
  
"Okay. Just checking." He then moved his head and reached for his glasses.  
  
Once he got his vision back, he looked at Albus, who had a distraught expression on his face.  
  
"Why do you look so worried, Albus?"  
  
"Lily told me what happened in the hall."  
  
"Oh." Harry spoke, knowing he was going to get in a lot of trouble. "I'm not sorry I hit that kid, you know. He has been terrorizing my only child for long enough."  
  
Dumbledore found this statement highly amusing. "I wasn't worried about you hitting Mr. Flint, although I probably should have been." He chuckled to himself. "I was worried about your stopping time."  
  
Harry, not wanting to think about it, decided to change the subject. "Where are Hermione and Lily?"  
  
"Lily is in the DA meeting. Hermione was growing restless, so I sent her to the library to gather something to read while you slept."  
  
Harry nodded, still clearly waking up, until the last statement sunk through. "DA meetings?"  
  
Albus nodded and chuckled. "They wanted to name it "Potter's Army", but I knew that you wouldn't want that. So, we just went with the original. It was, however, inspired by your original DA and the fact that students as well as teachers stopped that Death Eater raid. It began the term after your disappearance."  
  
Harry could only slack-jawed stare.  
  
"You have more visitors, who would like to see you very much. Shall I allow them in?"  
  
Harry yawned while nodding his head. "Please do, and thank you."  
  
"Very well Harry, but we do need to talk about your new 'abilities' soon, agreed?"  
  
"Agreed," Harry said remorsefully.  
  
Albus rose, and walked over to the door, closing it behind him as he left. Harry took what precious little time he had, grabbing his wand from his nightstand, waving it over him and muttering cleaning charms.  
  
Just as he had finished, the door opened very gently and seven people walked into the room, six of them tearing up at the sight of him, not believing the sight before their eyes. Ginny stifled a sob behind her hand, and Neville put his arm up, silently rubbing her back, while smiling through his own tears.  
  
The youngest in the room walked up to the side of the bed first looking at The-Boy-Who-Lived, then back at his parents. "Is this him, Daddy?" the child asked. Ron, not trusting his voice, nodded back.  
  
"Hi. My name is Harry." Little Harry said to 'Big Harry'  
  
"Hi, my name is Harry too." Big Harry looked up to the child's father. "Ron?" he asked disbelieving. "Is that you?"  
  
Ron walked over to where his son and best friend were. "Its me, Harry." He bent down and gave Harry the first hug he had ever given him. Harry noticed that he was shaking all over.  
  
"Alright there, Ron?"  
  
Ron backed up to give him a very watery grin. "I have honestly never been better."  
  
Harry found himself moved, and tried to change the subject before he started sobbing as well. "SOOO, named your son after me, did ya? This is gonna get really confusing, you do realize, right?"  
  
Ron sat himself at the bed, and ruffled his son's hair. "You wouldn't believe how many people fifteen and younger are named 'Harry' and 'Harriet'. Personally, I think that 'Mione and I should have been the only ones to have that right, but you can't very well copyright a name now, can you?"  
  
Harry groaned. "And here I thought that the hero worship was bad before. It's gonna be downright unbearable now, isn't it?"  
  
Ron chuckled, and looked down at his son. "We'll just call him Harold then. Mom and Lav both call him that when he's in trouble, so he ought to be used to it by now."  
  
He now looked up at the rest of the family, who were all still in shock at seeing him for the first time in fifteen years. "Well, aren't you going to come say hello? Or are you just going to stand there and stare at me all day?" He finished with his trademark impish grin to let them know that he wasn't really offended.  
  
They descended on him as a swarm, but Molly got to him first. Weeping openly, she was hugging him so hard his oxygen supply was nearly depleted when she finally let go.  
  
"Hello Mrs. Weasley. It's good to see you too."  
  
She sniffed rather loudly. "Oh, you dear. When we thought we lost you.. it was like losing a son. You are never to call me Mrs. Weasley again, you hear?"  
  
"Okay.. Mum?" he ventured.  
  
Molly, who was expecting him to just call her Molly, began the waterworks anew. "Oh Harry, you've made me so happy!" she shrieked as she gathered him into another hug. When she finally let go, he turned to Mr. Weasley.  
  
"Mr. Weasley?"  
  
"As far as I am concerned, you are a son to me too. Don't go favoring Molly over me now, got that?" he said in a mock-threatening tone, but his wide smile and tears belied his true intentions."  
  
Harry sat up and hugged him, the tears now cascading down his own face as well, as he whispered. "I have a family.. I finally have a family."  
  
"And a Big one as well," came a response from behind him.  
  
He turned and looked at the lady who said that, but aside from a nagging familiarity, he couldn't place her.  
  
Lavender saw his confusion, and decided to give him a break. She pulled him into a hug of her own, and whispered in his ear. "It's Lavender, and I'll forgive you for not recognizing me just this once, okay?"  
  
Harry nodded into her shoulder, having no words to say.  
  
He pulled back, and looked at the last two inhabitants of the room. "Ginny?.. and ... NEVILLE?!?!?"  
  
Ginny walked over and gave a hug that rivaled her mothers, openly weeping into his shoulder, while Nev grabbed his hand for a shake while wiping away tears with his other. "It's good to have you back, Harry."  
  
"So, I take it you two are married?" he asked after Ginny had stepped back so she could look at him. They both nodded, grinning sheepishly at each other. "Well, congratulations. Where are your rugrats?"  
  
The temperature of the room fell a couple degrees, and Harry could tell that Ginny's tears weren't from happiness anymore.  
  
Neville took Ginny in his arms, and spoke to Harry. "Did anyone tell you what happened the night of your dissappearance? In regards to Draco and his father?"  
  
"I was told that Draco had to kill his father, but I don't see where this is going."  
  
"Okay, here's what happened." He took a deep breath, silently asking permission from the rest of the family before continuing. "When the death eater attack came, we ambushed them, but there were a few who fought back especially hard. Lucious Malfoy was dueling Ginny, and decided to do something worse than killing or torturing her. He took away her dream." Ginny and Molly were both sobbing openly at this point, while Lavender was trying to calm down Ron.  
  
"I don't understand, Neville. Took away her dream?"  
  
Neville nodded, while rubbing Ginny's back as she cried into his neck. "You know how important family is to the Weasleys, right? He robbed her of her ability to have children. Draco knew what curse was used, and went insane when he heard it. He used the disarming charm, but his emotions were so out of control that Lucious went flying into a tree. A tree branch, to be exact. Broke his neck, you see. Dead before he hit the ground."  
  
"And lucky he was, too. Damn lucky I couldn't get my hands on him," came the voice of Arthur. Harry was shocked at his tone. He had never heard Arthur say a threatening thing about anyone before. Harry knew how he felt, however. His own emotions were spiraling out of control.  
  
From out of nowhere, Ginny was slowly raised into the air, wrapped in a blue aura, the same blue aura that currently surrounded Harry, to the other's notice. She seemed to regress to the age of about fourteen in a matter of a minute, and then in the next minute progressed back to her current age, before the blue aura set her gently down onto the floor.  
  
"What was THAT?!?" Ginny screamed, while everyone else turned a fearful/awe-filled gaze to Harry. Harry, feeling guilty, tried to explain to the best of his ability.  
  
"Sorry, it seems like when I fell through time I gained some sort of control over it. It happens when my emotions run high. Are you okay, Ginny?"  
  
Ginny did a mental checkover, and nodded. "I'm just a little disoriented and scared Harry."  
  
"Will you get Madame Pomfrey, Lavender? I want to make sure she is really okay."  
  
Lavender nodded, unable to speak, then came back with Madame Pomfrey in a matter of seconds.  
  
"Now what's going on here?" she asked as soon as she saw everyone's fearful expressions and Ginny lying on the floor with a dazed expression. Harry was the one to answer her.  
  
"She needs a checkover, Poppy. Something happened and we aren't sure what."  
  
Poppy muttered a spell while holding her wand over Ginny. Purple strings of light came out of her wand, circling Ginny, and finally coming back to her wand a blue color. Poppy closed her eyes for a moment and then opened them, muttering something about 'impossible'.  
  
"What's impossible, Madame?" Molly asked, being the closest to her.  
  
"She's. She's completely fine. Aside from the fact that she's in the middle of her period. Would anyone care to explain this to me?"  
  
Ginny, upon hearing this and realizing what it meant, jumped up off the floor and ran over to where Harry lay, giving him another hug, stammering in-between kissing him on the cheek. "I don't kn-know what y-you d-d-did, but t-t-thank you so much! I can't ever repay you," she sobbed out into his neck. Harry, bewildered, looked at the rest of the family with wide eyes. Gone was the fearful look, pure gratitude and joy was apparent on every face in the room.  
  
Ron was the first to break from his stupor. "Jeez, Harry. Here we come to rescue you from the castle, and you wind up giving our family the greatest gift imaginable. Some things never change, do they?" he chuckled.  
  
Ginny raised up from where she was crying on his shoulder, and kissed him on the cheek one last time. "I'll never forget this, Harry." She said very solemnly to him.  
  
"Well, I think we should all be going now." Mrs. Weasley said from where she was standing. "I've still to tell everyone back home about you. As soon as you are up to it, come to the Burrow and meet all the extended family, okay?"  
  
Harry nodded, wondering just how everyone else was doing now. "I don't think you could keep me away Mrs... Mum."  
  
Everyone in the room hugged him goodbye, whispering some sort of thanks over Ginny and welcoming back, all except for 'Little Harry', who didn't understand any of that, but did understand that he was family and that you hug family.  
  
"I'll send you an owl when I know when I can come, okay?"  
  
"Okay, Harry."  
  
"Good-bye Harry."  
  
"It's good to have you back Harry."  
  
"See you soon, Bud."  
  
Harry felt so content, to have a family outside of his daughter, that he just laid back down with a genuine smile on his face to wait until his fiancée or his daughter to return. 


	6. The new DA

Author's Note: I seem to have some trouble with updating regularly and more trouble with writers blocks. On the other hand, if anyone is thinking about proofing, give me an e-mail. I could really use some help. Thanks,  
  
Icedragonmo3  
  
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Harry settled back into the bed, trying to get comfortable but found it was a lost cause. He was awake, and needed to be up and about. Gathering his things, he was headed out the door when he ran into Albus once again.  
  
"Going somewhere Mr. Potter?" he said, trying to command a reprimanding tone, but the twinkle in his eyes betrayed his true feelings on the matter.  
  
"Yea," Harry answered a bit sheepishly, "I was going to go see what the D.A. meetings are like fifteen years later."  
  
"I was hoping we could have a little chat about your, shall we say, recently acquired 'abilities'."  
  
Harry, not willing to spend a second longer in the hospital wing, began reaching for a compromise. "Can we talk and walk at the same time?"  
  
"I'm not sure that this is a conversation that should be privy to the ears of the castle, Harry." The twinkle was shining a little less.  
  
Harry smirked, and raised his wand so it was pointing at the ceiling. Tracing an intricate pattern in the air, he finished whispering "Silencio Localus". A silver dome sprouted from his wand tip, still held high in the air, reaching down to the floor. When the dome was complete, it flashed just a shade brighter than it was, then faded to nothing.  
  
Seeing the confused look on Albus's face, Harry decided to explain. "It's a localized silencing charm. 'Mione and I developed it Sixth year so we could have some privacy now and then. Sound gets in, it doesn't get out, and the silencing field travels with the caster." He gave his trademark grin before asking "Like it?"  
  
The headmaster chuckled, shaking his head while trying to see the invisible field, muttering things like 'ingenious' and 'I should have thought of this years ago'.  
  
"Shall we, Headmaster?" Harry asked, dipping into a half bow and holding his arm out towards the exit of the hospital wing.  
  
"Indeed, Mr. Potter."  
  
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In the corridor, The two friends turned a corner continuing their chat.  
  
"I heard what you did for Mrs. Longbottom, Harry."  
  
"Really? Because I have no idea what I did."  
  
"From the descriptions I was given, you created some sort of a time-bubble around Mrs. Longbottom, regressing her to a point before the curse stole her fertility, then progressing her back to her rightful age, all the while keeping her memories intact. Very complex. And you say you don't know how you did it?"  
  
Harry looked down, shaking his head with an expression of concentration.  
  
"Fascinating. Well, enough of this. We will get you a handle on these powers of yours. It will just take time, and I tell you now that you have the full support of the Hogwart's staff, myself included. Ah, here we are."  
  
They had stopped at a large set of doors.  
  
"We are exactly where, Professor?"  
  
"The D.A. classroom. Did you think that it would still be held in the room of requirement after all these years?"  
  
Harry chuckled. "Let's go in."  
  
They walked into the room, keeping quiet so as not to disturb the ongoing session. A line of students were firing curses onto a wall laden with targets, with varying degrees of accuracy. Harry saw his daughter walking up and down the line of students, correcting people in places, offering words of encouragement and in others, giving small praise to properly performed hexes.  
  
Harry leaned in to Albus. "She's not teaching just because she's my daughter, is she?"  
  
Albus whispered back. "Yes and no. No, she didn't get the teaching position because of your fame. Yes, she got it because she has her mother's brains and her father's sheer audacity and determination." He chuckled at the look on Harry's face, caught between pride over Lily and trying to feel indignant over being called audacious.  
  
Harry let his eyes travel around the room, taking in its splendors. A rather large room, with stylish brass ornaments decorating the walls. Small anterooms where there were a myriad of different weather conditions. Harry mused that they were for training to duel in adverse weather. Large bookshelves filled with many different kinds of books and magical items of all sorts. He let his eyes continue wandering until.  
  
"Oh. My. GOD!!!!!"  
  
Directly on the wall to the left of the entrance, was a wall spanning mural of himself, Harry Potter, standing in a defiant pose with the Godric's sword in the belt of his battle robes. Behind him was a darkened landscape on the edge of the forbidden forest, Hagrid's hut to his left, and to his right, a depiction of the last moment of Voldemort's life. He had a defiant smirk and his arms crossed over his chest, in a pose that seemed to say 'Whatever you've got, bring it. I promise you it won't be enough.' Directly underneath the Mural was lettering that read; 'In Dedication of the Founder of the Defense Association: Sir Harry Potter'  
  
Everyone in the room had turned to see who had made the exclamation, but that same person had forgotten anyone else was in the room.  
  
"Why can't I just have a NORMAL life! HUH! How many more statues, murals, and memorials am I going to just 'happen' across before people are going to start warning me beforehand!" He paused and looked at the writing once again. "I was KNIGHTED! Why is it that even after I am supposedly this 'world's greatest savior'" he said very sarcastically, "that I am still out of the loop!?!?"  
  
The headmaster chuckled, and when Harry turned to glare at him, the chuckle turned into a full out laugh, and Albus fell down on his bum roaring with laughter, something very uncharacteristic of him.  
  
He took a few deep breaths to calm himself, then said; "When you are done with your ranting, I believe you've attracted an audience." There was a pause. "Close your mouth and turn around."  
  
Harry reluctantly turned around, to see the entirety of the D.A. staring at him with slack jaws and wide eyes. All except for one person.  
  
"Daddy!" Lily exclaimed, running up and giving her father a hug. Over her shoulder, Harry saw every member's eyes glance to him, to the mural behind him, back to him, back to the mural, and with each pass the eyes became wider and wider.  
  
"Um.. Hi Lily."  
  
A couple of girls fainted. A few more members needed to sit down. No one had blinked in the last three minutes.  
  
"I take it you didn't tell anyone I was back, did you Albus."  
  
The only reply was an innocent stare.  
  
He turned back to face the gawkers, and a million questions bombarded him from all directions.  
  
Looking around, Harry pleaded with his eyes first to Lily, then to Albus.  
  
Albus cleared his throat and held his hands for silence. "The reason Mr. Potter has come to attend the meeting has been for one, to observe his daughter, and two, to give a small demonstration."  
  
Harry rounded on Albus. "WHAT!" he whispered harshly. "I have nothing prepared!"  
  
Albus only looked calmly back on him. "I seem to remember you giving a similar demonstration to your own D.A. and assorted members of the school and ministry. It was only three weeks ago for you, was it not? Just do that one."  
  
Harry sighed in resignation. "I need the sword." He breathed out in a defeated voice.  
  
The headmaster chuckled and pointed over to the mural. Directly underneath was a plaque with the Griffindor sword positioned blade-tip down directly over Voldemort's wand. Harry walked over, grabbed the sword off the plaque, and on impulse, grabbed The Dark Lord's wand and slipped it into the left-hand wand holster he had in case of emergencies.  
  
He walked towards the equipment rack, and pulled out a shoulder harness with a scabbard on it. He took off his robes, and his undershirt. He removed his shoes and socks, and walked to the center of the room clad in only his trousers. He stopped in the center of the room, and slung the scabbard over his right shoulder, clasping it together underneath his left arm.  
  
The murmur he had been hearing since he walked to the center of the room was now coming in clearer.  
  
"He's even hotter in person!"  
  
"Do you see his chest!"  
  
"Look at that back! He's so hot!"  
  
Harry started blushing to from the tips of his hair down to the waistline of his trousers, while trying to maintain his dignity by adjusting the wand holsters he had on both wrists, a wand in each.  
  
"That is my FATHER you are talking about!" came a dignified voice, and Harry turned to see Lily scolding the girls that were whistling and catcalling him. He breathed a silent thank-you to Lily and nodded to Albus, indicating that he was ready.  
  
Albus gathered everyone's attention and called for them to stand back, as he erected a shielding dome over the greater part of the very large room to protect spectators from stray curses.  
  
"Are you ready Harry?" he asked.  
  
Harry nodded, a determined look on his face, before he bowed he head, closing his eyes, and taking deep calming breaths.  
  
Albus clapped his hands three times, and twenty five ghostly figures appeared in the dome with him, as his opponents.  
  
One of the figures raised his wand and fired a curse, while the others began closing in on him.  
  
Harry's head snapped up from his meditative stance, and eyeing the curse, dodged to the side in a mid-air roll, firing a hex at the offender before sidestepping, unsheathing his sword while turning in a deft motion to face another opponent that had snuck up behind him.  
  
Harry's face broke out in a feral grin. The fun had just begun... 


	7. The Demonstration

Albus clapped his hands three times, and twenty-five ghostly figures appeared in the dome with him, as his opponents.  
  
One of the figures raised his wand and fired a curse, while the others began closing in on him.  
  
Harry's head snapped up from his meditative stance, and eyeing the curse, dodged to the side in a mid-air roll, firing a hex at the offender before sidestepping, unsheathing his sword while turning in a deft motion to face another opponent that had snuck up behind him.  
  
Harry's face broke out in a feral grin. The fun had just begun...  
  
Harry ducked under the offending figure's punch, before swinging his sword in a diagonal upward slash, banishing him from the fight. Immediately after completing his swing, or a continuation of it, depending on whom you would ask, he jumped into a back flip over a streak of red light that would have struck him had he stayed immobile one second more. Instead of landing, however, he planted both feet on the chest of his next victim, kicking off high into the air while firing a reducto curse to gain more altitude, obliterating the conjured opponent in the process.  
  
Twenty-two left..  
  
Once in the Air, he quickly sheathed this sword and pulled his body into a spin, legs locked and strait with his toes pointing, his arms locked straight held high over his head with palms flat. He pulled hard and began turning on his 'Z' axis, so that at mid-leap his outstretched hands were pointing at the floor, toes pointing towards the ceiling. It was in this position that he rained down destruction on the arena.  
  
Using the wands in his holsters, positioned in a way so that they could be used without having to grasp them, he fired a volley of destructive curses at the ground below, sometimes striking opponents, sometimes not.  
  
As he descended from his short flight, he finished his rotation drawing the Gryffindor sword and bringing it down upon another ghostly defender, cleaving him in two. The halves drifted away and apart as if they were white smoke before even touching the ground.  
  
Twelve left..  
  
Harry turned to face the remainder of his opponents, deciding on his next action, as there were none close enough to him to fight instantly. He would have to approach.  
  
Eight curses seemed to be cast almost simultaneously, and an assortment of different hexes made their way towards where he now stood. Dropping to a forward somersault and rolling underneath them, he popped up and swung his sword in a wide arc, unceremoniously decapitating the ghost on his right. At the same time this happened, he fired a disarming charm with the wand in his left holster, making the figure there drop the staff she was holding and sailing back through the edge of the erected safety dome, where she lost her form. Ring-outs apparently count.  
  
Ten left..  
  
Three of the figures closed around him as soon as he landed, each brandishing a sword. A fast and furious fight broke out, with Harry trying to defend himself from three different attack fronts. Using his sword and strategically placed slaps to the flats of the other blades with his free hands, Harry held his own. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the figure that was at an eight o'clock position over extend himself for a strike. He quickly parried the thrust from the apparition in front of him to the right, while throwing a blind banishing charm out of his left-hand wand that he knew if aimed right, would be indefensible in his current state. The parried thrust of the foremost ghost had struck the figure to his right, dispatching that attacker inadvertently in the process. Harry spun into a crouching sweep, taking the last of the circle from his feet, before impaling him through the heart. He pulled his sword from the floor, turning quickly to face the survivors.  
  
Seven left.  
  
All Seven fired curses at him, at a myriad of angles determined to strike him. Harry hopped and contorted his body into a strange position, having the first four curses sail by him. Once he landed, the side-stepped to his left, and swung Godric's Sword as a bat, catching one of the curses in the process and sending it back at the caster. The explosive curse struck it's own caster in the face, sending a blast that annihilated not only the target, but the figures to the caster's left and right.  
  
Four left.  
  
Harry used the distraction to sheathe his sword and run up to the remaining four. Twisting deftly and parrying blows while returning his own, he soon had the upper hand. Kick to the left. Dodge two blows at head level by doing a crouch sweep on the figure behind him. Parry a knife stab intended for his midsection from the man on the right while delivering a vicious hand-strike to the collarbone of the offender in front of him. A staff swung in an overhead arc at him, to which Harry caught it, kicked the opponent in the solar plexus, and planting the conjured staff into the ground. Harry spun around on the upright staff, kicking two opponents before landing, then reversing direction and slamming the staff into another's side. He then spun the staff, twisting it using his wrist, bringing it up over his head. Grappling with his other hand to steady the weapon, he then brought the staff down with a full force blow to the only figure left standing. Up-righting himself from his crouched position, he let the staff fall to the floor as he gazed downward, watching the last four opponents waft away.  
  
Harry then bent over, bracing himself with his hands on his knees, and took deep breaths, trying to get some oxygen to his overworked muscles. Finally able to stand upright again, he carefully took a look at the rest of the class. Each one was staring, no, GAWKING at the almost supernatural display of concentration, agility, and downright deadliness. Littered on the floor, around the feet of the gawking students, were an assortment of wands, books, quills, and other such things, presumably held by the students at some point before being forgotten about and dropped. He finally found the student he was looking for, his daughter.  
  
Lily couldn't shut her mouth either, but he looked in her eyes and found something different from the others. Not fear, like the rest, but awe, which the rest certainly did have, and.. pride. An all encompassing feeling of pride, that the man who just did all those superhuman things was her father, and that she new that there was nothing to fear from the man as long as you didn't attack him or those he loves.  
  
A light, rhythmic clapping began from doorway, and there stood Hermione, walking towards him clapping while brandishing a white towel on her shoulder leaving Draco Malfoy and Evan Flint frozen in the entryway looking much like the students surrounding the ring. The only difference was that young Mr. Flint had a lot more fear than awe in his eyes.  
  
Hermione walked right up to him and handed him the towel. "That was even more impressive than the display you put on for us in seventh year. Fantastic Harry!" Harry wiped the sweat from his face while she was talking, and was wiping down his chest when he got a good look at her face. She had a sad, almost defeated look about her, and a wistful look in her eyes. Certainly not the image that should have matched the tone in her voice. He slowed down toweling himself off, contemplating what she must be feeling.  
  
"Just how long were you watching, 'Mione?" he asked, trying to find out the cause of her discomfort.  
  
"Since you took your shirt off..." She replied, her eyes starting to tear up.  
  
"And so.." Harry looked around himself, seeing the female D.A. members staring at his chest, a few were even drooling. Recognition dawned upon Harry's face. "You think that I'm too young for you now, don't you?" he whispered, so that only she could hear.  
  
A tear broke loose as Hermione pulled up to hug him, sobbing on his shoulder. Harry, always having been slight of frame, pulled her back and looked up into her eyes. "You think that I should be with one of these.. These GIRLS?" he emphasized the word girl, while still whispering, to begin making his point.  
  
She nodded, averting her eyes.  
  
"'Mione, what year was I born?" he asked.  
  
"1980." she whispered back, not trusting her voice.  
  
"And what year were you born?"  
  
"Nineteen-Eighty" she replied again.  
  
"Therefore, I am just as old as you are, 'Mione. You said it yourself. We have a beautiful, smart daughter. Together. If you think I'm going to let another second slip by without the both of you in my life, you are sadly mistaken." He then grabbed his fiancée, gently, with a hand on either side of her face, and kissed her full on the mouth.  
  
Hermione was shocked at first, but then all the old feelings she had been harboring since the night Harry disappeared came flooding back to the surface. She ran her left hand up into his hair, intertwining it with her fingers, while her right hand drifted down to come to rest on his left buttock.  
  
In a daring move the Hermione of fifteen years ago would never have done, she dipped him over, giving him a forceful, yet passionate kiss the aggression of which Harry had never seen from her beforehand. She up righted him after a few moments only to break the kiss and look into his eyes with a lustful gaze until a gentle cough interrupted them.  
  
Both blushing to the depths of their respective beings, they realized that the entire display was witnessed by the entirety of the room.  
  
"That was most impressive Harry, most impressive indeed." The headmaster began. I didn't know that you could do wandless magic. Only a handful of wizards and witches in history have accomplished such a feat. Even Tom Riddle himself was dependant upon his wand!"  
  
Harry chuckled out loud. "Look, Albus, I didn't do any wandless magic. I just had the wands tucked into the holsters on my wrists so I could keep my hands free."  
  
The twinkle in Dumbledore's eyes seemed to intensify even more so than before. "Wands? Where did the other come from?"  
  
"Riddle's wand. I grabbed it when I gathered Godric's sword. I figured if I used it once before, I could do it again. Effective, wouldn't you agree?" Harry was obviously enjoying how wrong Albus had interpreted events.  
  
"Harry, first of all, do you think I would keep Voldemort's" there was a sharp intake of air from some of the students, "wand out in the open? That wand is a replica of your own, but with one major difference. There is no core. For all intents and purposes, that 'wand' is merely a finely polished stick. Secondly, people can't do magic with a wand unless it is in their hand. You, my friend, have not only managed to cast spells without a wand, but different spells between the two hands. Did you not notice that you used no incantations, or wand movements to use any of your magic?"  
  
Harry's grin at having finally gotten one over on the headmaster (or so he thought) began to falter at the beginning of Dumbledore's speech, becoming more and more a state of shock as all the blood left his face.  
  
Perhaps the wizened mage hadn't interpreted things so wrongly after all... 


	8. Homecoming

"Um. okay." Muttered Harry, not quite comfortable with everyone staring at him for one reason or another.  
  
He looked up and saw that Flint kid still standing in the doorway, obviously having just overheard the comments that Albus had made, since he became a few shades paler than when Harry had glanced at him a moment or two earlier.  
  
"I hope you got a good look, Flint. I suggest you take my advice on leaving my family alone!" He bellowed, not caring what anyone thought towards his caustic comments.  
  
Evan's eyes widened fractionally just before he turned and bolted down the corridor. Draco only shook his head sadly at the retreating form of Mr. Flint before walking up to greet Harry and the gathered crowd.  
  
"I was going to come talk to you about Mr. Flint's allegations that you attacked him, but as I can see it's lower on his priority list than staying away from you." He said, while smirking in a.. well, not threatening, yet not friendly smirk.  
  
Harry's only response was to shrug. He slung the towel over his shoulders while stating; "He shouldn't be terrorizing my family. He ought to know that anyone who threatens my only daughter has nothing but pain in their near future."  
  
Draco smirked even more. "Good, I hope you put that ignorant prat in his place. I hate to admit it, being in my own house and all, but that kid has the worst qualities of a Slytherin I have ever seen."  
  
Harry smiled, but all of a sudden began to feel faint. His knees gave out on him, and if Hermione hadn't been right behind him catching him, he would have hit the floor.  
  
"Oh, dear," Albus sighed. "I am so sorry Harry, it slipped my mind that you were still recovering. All of that physical and magical exertion must have really taken its toll. Ms. Granger, Ms Potter, would you please help me get Mr. Potter back to the Hospital wing?"  
  
"Albus," Harry growled out from where he was now positioned with an arm over each of his family member's shoulders, "If you make me spend one more night in that hospital wing I swear I will obliterate at least one, if not two of the castle towers."  
  
Albus didn't even flinch. He just kept smiling that damned insane smile that never seemed to leave his face and replied "Well then, I am sure other accommodations can be arranged. Is Gryffindor tower okay by you?"  
  
"No." Harry said while shaking his head. He looked up at his bride-to-be- someday and asked "Can you take me home? I want to spend some time with you."  
  
Hermione grinned though her wet eyes. Harry hadn't said 'Can you take me to where you live' or 'can you take me to YOUR home.' He asked to take him home, as though where ever 'Mione hung her hat, that was his home. He never referred to the Dursley's as his home, and the Burrow was the 'home- away-from-home, but up until now, Hogwarts was his home. Until now.  
  
"Of course, love. May we use your office floo, headmaster?"  
  
Albus nodded, a sorrowful expression entering his visage. He hadn't expected Harry to want to leave the castle he had called home, but at the same time could understand his need for some peace and quiet. A castle of over two thousand gawking teenagers could become very tiresome indeed.  
  
The foursome made their way to the Headmaster's office, in relative silence. Albus was silent because he was pondering just why Harry leaving so soon is making him so upset. Lily, because she was upset that her Dad (whom she hadn't really gotten a chance to know yet) was going away. Mione was contemplating how to show Harry the house, and how to get a third bedroom set-up by tonight for him to sleep in, and Harry didn't have the energy to do more than try to walk.  
  
As the fire roared green in the office, Lily hugged her father for all she was worth.  
  
"Lily, relax, you are coming home for christmas break, right?" At her reluctant nod, he continued. "I'll see you then, and we can start on your training. Well, the non-magical aspects anyway. I just want to spend some time alone with your mother for a bit, okay?" Lily nodded again, and whispered; "I love you, Dad."  
  
"I love you too, kiddo."  
  
He turned towards Albus. "Can I re-enroll after the Christmas break, Professor? I still haven't completed my NEWTs, you know."  
  
Albus visibly brightened up. His son was coming back!... wait.. his son? When did he start thinking that? Having no children of his own, he had realized that he thought of all the students at the school as a surrogate family, but with Harry it was always.. Different. Like a true son. He understood, now, why he was so happy to get him back, and why it hurt him so to see him leave. "Of course, Harry. After all, we still have to train you with your new ability as well, do we not?"  
  
Harry grimaced. There went any free time he may have had. "Of course, sir. Shall we 'Mione?"  
  
Hermione smiled and stepped into the fire, pulling Harry into it as well. She shouted out, very clearly, "The Lightning Palace" before the twosome vanished in a swirl of ash and green flame.  
  
*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*- *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-  
  
Harry and Hermione stepped out of the fireplace, patting the soot off of their clothing and coughing. Harry was muttering under his breath the evils of floo travel while his fiancée merely giggled at him. "So," Hermione began, "what do you want to do first?"  
  
Harry contemplated for a moment. "Well, I'd really like to shag you into tomorrow." 'Mione's lips parted, speechless, as she blushed a deep crimson color, "but as I am ready to fall down and sleep where I stand, perhaps we should just send a note off to Molly telling her what happened and then relax and have some dinner?"  
  
Hermione recovered her wits pretty quickly. "Sure Harry. Why don't you go to my office and write the note out. My owl, Mercury, is in there. I'll get started on some dinner while you do that. Does that sound okay?" she ventured, knowing how annoying she can be when she goes into one of her 'bossy' modes.  
  
"You're making dinner? Why not the house elves? I am sure these manors come with them."  
  
"Harry James Potter. Do you honestly think I would allow slave labor in my own home?"  
  
"So you must have a maid then, right? This place is spotless, and it would take you all day to clean it yourself, an impossible task if you work at home like Lily said you do."  
  
Hermione looked around the floo entry room with a confused look on her face, as if noticing details for the first time. Ever since she bought the Manor, it had just always been clean. She thought it was self-cleaning, but there aren't any charms developed to do that. It would put the house- elves out of work, and every spell-maker was wealthy enough to have at least one house-elf, so the need wasn't ever there.  
  
"I don't know Harry. We'll figure it out later. Go on, write your letter, and we'll discuss it over dinner, okay?"  
  
*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*- *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-  
  
Dear Mum and Dad,  
  
I just wanted to write you to tell you what is going on. I am now at home with 'Mione, and am going to stay here until the start of next term, where I will be taking my newts at Hogwarts. Wish me luck! I probably won't need it, though. I mean, I am spending the break with my fiancée, who just happens to be the smartest witch or wizard I have ever met. (Albus may be wise, but Hermione is far more brilliant. Just don't tell him I said that!) I was wondering if we could have that family get- together the day after Christmas break starts so that Lily can come as well.  
  
All my Love,  
  
H.P.  
  
Harry attached the letter to 'Mercury's' leg, asked very politely for him to take it to Molly and Arthur Weasley, and went downstairs to try and stomach 'Mione's cooking. Last he had it, the food almost killed him. 'Here's hoping she learned how to cook while I was gone' he thought to himself. 


End file.
